JOHN C. CARY

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp John C. Cary,was born in Oconee county, South Carolina, near the
site of the old Pickens court-house, some eight miles northeast of Seneca, on
July 10, 1848. He was the son of Captain John W. L. Cary and Martha M.
(Curtis) Cary. His father was a carriage builder and later in years, a farmer.
For twelve years he was tax collector in the Pickens district. For a few
months in 1863 he was Captain in his company in the Confederate Army.
While on the South Carolina coast he was kicked by a horse and
permanently disabled.

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John Curtis Cary is descended from an ancient and illustrious English
family. Its earliest known ancestor was Adam DeKarry, Lord of Castle
Karry, of Somerset county, England, in the twelfth century. The name
originally was Kari. Henry Cary, Lord of Kursdon, was, through his mother,
Mary Boleyn, a cousin to Queen Elizabeth. For many years he served as
governor of Berwick and warden of the borders. It was he who suppressed
the rebellion of the north. From him were descended the earls of Devon and
Monmouth. Patrick Cary, the poet, was a member of this family, as were
also two members of the celebrated London Company of 1620, namely, Sir
George and Sir Henry Cary. The son of Sir George, a second Sir Henry
Cary, fought in the Army of Charles I, and upon the success of parliament,
was heavily fined. In 1651 he was again put under the law, and his estate,
Cockington, was confiscated. Three years later he emigrated to Virginia, but,
on the restoration under Charles II, returned to England, where he died.

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The son of Sir Henry, above noted, was a celebrated literary character.
He was dignified by James I with the Scotch title of Viscount of Falkland.
His son, Lucius, the second Lord of Falkland, was secretary of the state to
Charles I and was the typical cavalier of his race.

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Among the members of this family who came to Virginia was Colonel
Miles Cary, who came over from Bristol, England, and served in the
Colonial Council of Virginia under Governor Berkeley.

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Not all, however, of the Cary family were supporters of royalty. A notable
exception was afforded by Archibald Cary, a member of the Virginia
convention of 1776, and conspicuous for zeal and ability. He was the type of
Colonial capitalist, owning a large iron furnace and mills, which Tarleton, of
unsavory memory, committed to the flames.

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Archibald Cary was familiarly styled “Old Iron.” This sobriquet was
appropriate for more reasons than one, for Archibald Cary suggested iron,
not only by his commercial dealings, but also by his character and conduct.
He was as pronounced a patriot as some of his ancestors were royalists. To
him a monarch by any other name was equally odious; and when, as later,
some misguided spirits proposed to make Washington king, others equally
misguided proposed to make Patrick Henry dictator, Archibald Cary hurled
his defiance at the popular hero in these words: “The day of your
appointment will be the day of your death; for, before the sun sets, you will
find my dagger in your heart!”

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One of these early Englishmen in Virginia was the father of James Cary,
who was the father of Captain John W. L. Cary, who in turn was, as stated,
the father of John Curtis Cary.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp John Curtis Cary’s maternal ancestry dates back to the famous Kentucky
hunter and Pioneer, Daniel Boone. Martha M. Cary was born in what is now
Oconee county, and was the granddaughter of Nathan Boone, a descendant
of Daniel Boone,
The early life of John Cary was spent in the country, training to perform
all kinds of farm work customary of boys of that time. Being but thirteen
years old at the close of the Civil War, and having a family that was close to
poverty, he encountered a great deal of difficulty in acquiring an education.
Nevertheless, he derived his education from the early study of the best
classics, and the Bible. Later his interest in reading became the lives of men
who had left their impress on the times, among whom was George
Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Grover Cleveland.

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John Cary studied in the local schools and prepared for college in Thalian
Academy, taught by the Reverend J. L. Kennedy, a famous educator of that
time. While at the academy, in 1864, he responded to the call for
sixteen-year-old boys, and enlisted in the Confederate Army. He served six
months, was second Lieutenant of Company I, First regiment of South
Carolina militia, with which he remained until the close of the war. On
returning home he promptly re-entered Thalian Academy, where he studied
until August of 1866. In the fall of that year the appointment of beneficiary
from Pickens district to South Carolina college was offered to him, but as his
father had recently died, he declined to leave home. During 1867 he studied
under Professor W. J. Ligon, of Anderson, while the year 1868 he spent at
home on the farm.

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Mr. Cary began an active work life in 1869, as a clerk in a general
merchandise store in Walhalla. Later he held an engineering position with
various railroads; was employed as a bookkeeper, and as paymaster for a
railroad contractor. On account of the panic of 1873, he returned home to
the family farm for a brief period. He assisted in the survey of a railroad
from Greenville, South Carolina to Asheville, North Carolina; and then
became a clerk in a general merchandise store in Seneca, South Carolina,
where he remained until 1876.

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In the fall of that memorable year in South Carolina polities history, Mr.
Cary became a candidate for county clerk. He was an enthusiastic admirer of
General Wade Hampton and he threw into the campaign all the ardor and
energy of his young manhood. Though defeated, he received a flattering
vote. Mr. Cary now turned his attention back to business. This he could not
enter on his own account, for at the close of the war until now, he had saved
not a cent for himself, as every penny of his earnings had gone to his mother,
for the support and education of his younger brothers. He accepted the
agency for the great cotton merchants, George H. McFadden & Brother, of
Philadelphia and Liverpool and up to 1890 he was their representative for
western South Carolina and northeastern Georgia. In addition to his services
for this firm, he improved many opportunities to do business for himself,
and thus laid the foundations for his own operations. He built the
well-known Keowee Hotel, at Seneca in 1880 and sold it in 1889. In that
same year he organized the Lockhart Railroad Company, and was elected
it’s president and treasure. He had the rail open for business by June of
1900. Mr. Cary owned about 2,000 acres of land in Oconee county and gave
much attention to practical farming. He was president of the Seneca Oil Mill
and Fertilizer Company, and a promoter of manufacturing interest of the
New South.

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In 1893 he sold his water power on Little River, in Oconee county, to
Charleston capitalists and superintended the construction of a large cotton
mill for the Courtenary Manufacturing Company. The following year he
purchased the officers of Lockhart mills their water power and other
property, which had been obtained for the purpose of erecting a cotton mill
at Lockhart Shoals on the Broad River in Union County, South Carolina. He
reorganized the company and erected Mill Number 1 with 25,000 spindles
and 800 looms. This mill was completed in 1895 at a cost of $650,000. Mr.
Cary was treasurer and general manager of the company from its
reorganization in June of 1894 to November of 1895, when he was elected
its president and treasurer. On May 25, 1905, the capital stock of the
Lockhart Mills was increased to $1,300,000 for the purpose of building Mill
Number 2. This mill contained 25,000 spindles with a full complement of
looms and other more modern machinery.

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In politics Mr. Cary was a lifelong and active Democrat of the gold wing.
He represented his county in several state conventions of his party, and in
1884, he presented it at the Congressional Convention of the third district of
Seneca. At this convention he gave a brilliant speech as he renominated Mr.
D. Wyatt Aiken for congress. Mr. Aiken received the nomination from the
convention and was re-elected. In the same year Mr. Cary was a delegate to
the Democratic National Convention which nominated Grover Cleveland.

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Mr. Cary was deeply interested in the schools of his town and served as a
member of the board of trustees and as secretary of the board. He was also a
Mason. In religion he was a Presbyterian, and held the office of one of the
elders of his church.